 His careful studies of the earliest postage stamps of India, Jammu and Kashmir, Nepal, and Canada produced groundbreaking handbooks on which philatelists rely, even today.Born in Dehradun, India, on 19 March 1885 to forestry conservator Arthur Smythies (1847- 1934) and his wife Gertrude (formerly Gertrude Aston), Evelyn Arthur Smythies was educated at Cheltenham College, and received his degree in geology and a diploma in forestry from Oxford in 1908, then served in the Indian Forest Service from 1908 until 1940, based in Nainital.He was Chief Conservator of the Forest of Nepal from 1940 through 1947.